The present invention pertains to a fastening device for an adhesive attachment to the back of a wall, plate or sheet on a normally inaccessible blind side through an access hole.
The present invention pertains to a fastening device for use in the fiberglass boat industry, aircraft and automotive production, mobile home production, sheet metal industry and others including household use. It is a labor-saving device that can be quickly installed in a far ranging variety of conditions and materials in new production or in the repair industry.
This fastener is installed through its access hole from the front and is held in place with adhesive. Therefore, it can even be used in blind applications where no access to back of the hole exists. No tools are required for its installation.
The most widely used devices of this nature are sold under the trade names of "Toggle Bolt" and "Molly". These devices while successful in some applications are often difficult and time-consuming to install by the unskilled and in many cases result in failure. They require a large space behind the wall to be usable. Outside walls in concrete or cinder block construction where firing strips are used limit the access space between block and wall and often make use of these fasteners impractical if not impossible. In the case of a "Toggle Bolt" a properly sized hole is formed in a wall or ceiling and the screw, with the nut threaded thereon, is inserted through the hole. The wings of the nut collapse against the spring pressure and lie along opposite sides of the outer end portion of the screw during the insertion through the hole. As the wings are of a substantial length, the nut must be engaged on the tip end of the screw during the insertion because said wings must clear the inside edge of the hole before they open under the spring pressure.
It is essential, therefore, that the screw be immediately turned in the proper direction for tightening purposes.
As ceiling and side wall hanging operations are often in the hands of women, it frequently happens that the screw is turned in the wrong direction for a very short distance, resulting in the separation of the wing nut from the screw and the nut is obviously inaccessible for a second chance.
Further disadvantages of this type of attaching device are first, the item or object being suspended from the screw, on some occasions, must be engaged around the screw prior to its insertion through the wall or ceiling hole, and second, once installed, the screw cannot be removed without losing the nut.
The "Molly" has a collapsible tubular construction and a very long threaded screw which when used properly will clamp into a hole in a wall; but a very large space behind the wall is required and the clamping action is attained only by a time-consuming effort with a screwdriver.
The present invention makes use of the recent development of extremely strong pressure sensitive adhesive materials used extensively in the automotive and other industries for permanent all-weather joining of objects or assemblies and once the access hole is properly sized no tool is required for installation.
The fastening device of the present invention provides means to secure a nut to the normally inaccessible inside or blind surface of a hollow side wall or ceiling, boat hull or deck, sheet metal assembly, etc., for example, without being in assembly with a bolt or screw. Therefore, the screw or bolt may be, at any desired time, threaded into the nut. Also, the screw or bolt may be removed as often as desired and the nut will remain secured in position for its reception. Thus, for example, stripped threads in fiberglass or metal may be repaired simply by drilling out the stripped threads to the proper size hole and installing this threaded fastener.
Therefore, one of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide a fastening nut for fixed engagement with an inside or blind surface of a side or ceiling wall, for example.
A further object of the present invention is to provide means to engage and secure the nut to nearly any surface and in production work including blind installations.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a flexible line including centering means thereon engaged with the nut for passage inwardly through a properly sized hole in a wall and finger grip means on an outer end of the flexible line to draw the nut into engagement with a surface including inaccessible surfaces of a wall.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide double-sided pressure sensitive adhesive tape on the nut in a position to adhesively secure the nut to the inside wall or surface relative to the hole in the wall.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a cover strip on the outer side of the adhesive tape and means to engage the cover strip in a manner whereby said cover strip is removed along with the centering means and flexible line when a sufficient degree of pull forces are applied to the flexible line by means of the finger grip portion.